Where has the time gone? It seems like not long ago we were snuggling baby Andy and lugging him around, and now we can barely keep up with him!

Andy had an entire week to celebrate turning 3! It started off with a sleepover and visit to a train museum and restaurant with Deda and Papa which, as you can imagine, was AMAZING to Andy. Then a trip to the fire station on Monday. Andy LOVED seeing the 3 fire trucks and the ambulance and was also pretty interested in the fire pole. He didn’t actually ask if he could slide down it, but he did want to know basically everything else about it. After the fire station we met Daddy for lunch at Firehouse Subs.

On Wednesday, his actual birthday, Andy got to pick the menu, so we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, hot dogs and mac and cheese for lunch and pizza for dinner (we are so proud of his healthy choices!). On Thursday, Andy got to go to Uncle Bill’s Pet Shop with Eden’s preschool class. He was allowed to sit in the circle with Eden’s class before we left the church and even got to help with the good morning song. He thought he was pretty special being a part of Eden’s school! Friday we had his birthday party. It was a fire truck theme and all of the kids wore fire hats and spent a lot of time pretending to spray people with their fire hoses. Andy had a great time playing, opening gifts and eating a big piece of cake.

Andy has been working very hard at being gentle with others and has really been doing a good job monitoring himself. He puts on his own shoes, gets himself partially dressed, loves to be chased by Ben around the house, and is suddenly very opinionated about everything (like which seat he should sit in, what socks he should wear, what cars he takes with him and what tv shows we watch). He’s still really into any transportation related things and would watch documentaries on cars, trucks, trains, etc for hours if we let him. A new interest is monster trucks, although we had to put an end to Andy being a monster truck because the main job of a monster truck is to run over things and Eden and Grace did not enjoy being constantly run over.

Andy still has a very sweet and snuggly side. He’s always the one to ask us to cuddle him at bedtime, needs extra hugs and kisses before Ben goes to work and before going to sleep, and is the first to be concerned when someone else is crying. He’s also developing quite a humorous side, cracking Ben and I up with his delivery. He got his eyebrows from Ben and is already figuring out how to manipulate them for added impact. Andy has always been very easy going and still is, for the most part. He’s content to play with Eden when she’s in a playing mood, or is happy to drive his cars around in the basement when she’s in a funk. He’ll sit and watch tv until we turn it off (which is great in the car!), but likes to sit in our laps and read or play outside as well. He’s VERY anxious to start school next year and loves going to church and Wiggle Worship, although he’s ready to get out of the buggy!

At Andy’s check up he weighed 34 pounds and was 38 1/2 inches tall (75 percentile in both). He did a great job answering questions and following directions during the appointment and Dr. Timmons was very pleased with how he is doing.

On March 4, Kenya will hold elections and I’d like to ask you to start praying NOW! In 2007, horrible violence spread across the country as tribes fought against each other following the elections. The politics in Kenya are heavily tied to individuals tribes and this resulted in thousands of people being injured and killed. Eldoret, where we live when we go to Kenya, suffered severely and people that we know and care about saw and experienced awful things. We know people whose family’s were burned alive and also know people who risked their lives to rescue strangers.

Many of the Americans that live in the IU Compound have left the country as directed by IU, but we know that some people will not leave and many Kenyan’s can’t leave.

It’s worth mentioning that one of the men running for president in Kenya, as well as his running mate, are on trial in the International Criminal Court on allegations of organizing violence and crimes following the last elections.

Please pray for these specifics:
That the elections would be peaceful.
For our friends that remain in Kenya (to name a few: Joe and Sarah Ellen, Javan and his family, Pam and her brother Elly and their families, Rahab and Josie and their families)
For the Americans that will return to Kenya after the elections.

I’ve included a couple links below that you can check out for more information:
The Stone’s Blog: Chrissie and Geren are dear friends of ours from Eldoret. They are leaving for Uganda tomorrow until after the elections.

Running on Amnesia: a NY Times news article about the elections

Well…I’m pretty late posting this, but we’ve been rather busy and I had to wait until we got Grace’s pictures back. 🙂

On January 26, Grace turned 1! It was a fun day which started with cinnamon rolls with a candle (she ate an entire cinnamon roll!) and then we played and did a little cleaning for her party in the afternoon. She LOVED her cake and was using two hands to shove it into her mouth. It was pretty cute, until she bit her finger and completely melted down. Although, to be honest, even that was pretty cute, right?

At her one year check up, she weighed 16 lbs, 13 oz and was 29 inches long. She’s still very petite, smaller than both Eden and Andy at this age, but she’s stayed on her curve, so Dr. Timmons’ isn’t concerned. I love it because even though she is one, she still looks like a little baby!

Grace is not quite as easy going as she used to be. She’s much more opinionated and likes to make her thoughts known by screaming at full volume. She isn’t walking yet, although she’s slowly getting more brave about standing on her own. She eats everything, often times more than Eden, and although she did her best to resist the switch to milk, is doing pretty well with that now, too. She’s a great sleeper, going 12 1/2 hours at night and taking 4-5 hours of naps during the day. We’ve limited her paci to just the car seat and her crib and she thinks it’s very funny when she gets to throw her paci into her crib when she wakes up.

On December 12, Eden turned 4! She is so proud of being 4 and has become very grown up in the last couple of weeks.

I missed Eden’s third birthday because she was in Kenya, so it was even more special to be together this year. Eden had a Jessie (from Toy Story) birthday party and our guests dressed like cowgirls and cowboys. It was fun to have a few friends and family together to celebrate Eden and she had a great time playing with her friends.

It’s been amazing to see how much Eden has changed in the last year. She has become even more of a high achiever and a wonderful helper. She loves to take care of Grace and clean her room as a surprise for us. She also wants to have a lot of adult conversations. Recently we’ve discussed the man she will marry (she made me promise to help her find him and mentioned that she would like him to have blonde hair!) and also more about her birth mother, her adoption and a lot of discussions about her time in Kenya.

Since Eden started school in the Fall, her ‘first child’ traits have become even more emphasized. She loves going to school and works very hard to get her car to the end of the track each day (the reward system at school). She comes home daily with a report on what the kids did in class and how well each one did on the race track. A few days ago, she came home and told me that she had a talk with Mrs. Amato about another child in the class who was using a bad word (butt) and that after she told Mrs. Amato, that child’s car was moved backwards. I love seeing aspects of Eden’s personality come out and it’s fun for me to watch her and to understand exactly what she does and why she’s doing it. Our first child bond runs deep. I wish I knew if her personality is nature or nurture. 🙂

Here is a picture of Eden at school on her birthday!